4 



4 



BAEREN ISLAND 



[Ch. XXVIT 



IG5O5 the subsidence being proved not only by tradition but 

 bj the fact that a road which formerly led between two 

 places on the east coast of Thera is now 12 fathoms nnder 

 ^vater. A long succession, no doubt, of such events would be 

 demanded to bring about so great a submergence, and future 

 geologists will have to decide whether this or some other 

 theory will best account for this submarine chasm. 



On a review, therefore, of all the facts now brought to lio-ht 

 respecting Santorin, I attribute the moderate slope of the 

 beds in Thera and the other external islands to their havino* 

 originally descended the inclined flanks of a large volcanic 

 cone, the principal' orifice or vents of eruption havino- been 

 always situated where they are now, in or near the centre of 

 the space occupied by the gulf or crater, in other words where 

 the outburst of the Kaimenis has been witnessed in historical 

 times. The single long and deep opening into the crater is 

 a feature common to all those remnants of ancient voleanos 

 the central portions of which have been removed, and is pro- 

 bably connected with aqueous denudation. 

 the more ancient volcanic formations of Santorin, I am in- 

 formed by M, Fouque that they belong to the NoAver Pliocene 

 period, as shown by marine shells whicli he collected in 1866.^ 



Barren Island. — There is a great analogy between the 

 structure of Barren Island in the Bay of Bengal, lat. 12° 15', 

 and that of Santorin last described. When seen from the 



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ocean, this island presents, on almost all sides, a surface of 

 bare rocks, rising, with a moderate acclivity, towards the in- 

 terior ; but at one point there is a cleft by which we can pene- 

 trate into the centre, and there discover that it is occupied by a 

 great circular basin more than 8,000 feet in diameter bordered 

 all around by steep rocks, in the midst of which rises a volcanic 

 cone, very frequently in eruption. 



border which encloses the basin has been variously estimated. 

 According to Yon Liebig, who visited the island in 1857, it 

 was about 1,000 feet high, corresponding in elevation to the 

 modern cone, so that the latter can only be seen from the sea 



As to the age of 



The height of the circular 



* Since the aboTe was in print, 

 splendid photographs and descriptions 

 uf the ernption of the Kaimenis in 1866 



have been published by Messrs. Fritseh, 

 Eeiss, and Stiibol. Triibner, London, 

 1867., 



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